The stick and ball sports have their All-Star games but, it is usually more of a social event instead of a hard fought competition. NASCAR's version places the past season's best teams against each otherMore >>

The stick-and-ball sports have their All-Star games but they are usually more a social event than a hard-fought competition. NASCAR's version places the past season's best teams against each other with the winner leaving with at least a million dollars in their pocket.More >>

Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. are but a few of the sports greats who have gone to victory lane in the Southern 500. Matt Kenseth can now add his name to that historic trophy afterMore >>

Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. are but a few of the sports greats who have gone to victory lane in the Southern 500. Matt Kenseth can now add his name to that historic trophy after a late surge took him to the win Saturday night.More >>

Last week's white knuckle action at Talladega pitted driver against driver. This week it's a battle of another form as they try to defeat a "Track Too Tough to Tame" in Darlington, South Carolina. DarlingtonMore >>

Last week's white-knuckle action at Talladega pitted driver against driver. This week it's a battle of another form as they try to defeat a "Track Too Tough to Tame" in Darlington, SC.More >>

Talladega Speedway has long been known for its exciting racing action. However, the fans at Sunday's Aaron's 499 Cup Series event experienced some additional excitement in another form as a large thunderstormMore >>

Talladega Speedway has long been known for its exciting racing action. However, the fans at Sunday's Aaron's 499 Cup Series event experienced some additional excitement in another form as a large thunderstorm with one-eighth-inch hail that halted the event with 63 laps to go.More >>

The only thing that is predictable about Talladega is that it's unpredictable. You never know what to expect and the final lap is always one of the most exciting laps in all of NASCAR racing. Maybe theMore >>

The only thing that is predictable about Talladega is that it's unpredictable. You never know what to expect, and the final lap is always one of the most exciting laps in all of NASCAR racing.More >>

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (RNN) -

After what seemed an eternity, NASCAR Cup Series teams began shaking down the new Gen6 race car this past week in the first of three test sessions to prepare for the 2013 season. In an effort to keep the fans informed, Robin Pemberton, Vice President of Competition, sat down with the press to review the tests last week in Daytona.

The new-look race car gave the vision of stepping back in time to a day when the street car looked like the race car and vise-versa. The on track results were encouraging as well and Pemberton had high praise for the new design.

"We were ready to be hands-on," commented Pemberton on the feedback from the session. "We felt like we did our homework on this working with the manufacturers and the teams and came down here and it was pretty straightforward. It feels good right now."

The goal of the new design was to create better racing action for the fans. NASCAR hoped to accomplish that by reducing the dependency on aerodynamics and giving the mechanics more control of how the car performs on the track.

"The springs are softer and the spoilers are smaller," continued Pemberton on some of the changes. "The single-car speeds are a little bit quicker than last year. That was a goal. Our pack speeds are the same or down a little bit. So that was another one of our goals."

NASCAR might have been right on the money with the setup for Daytona but, the drivers have a little more learning to do with the new design as a multicar accident sent many teams home early.

Marcos Ambrose's crew was one of the Ford teams that had to cut its test short, and felt the incident was due to the new car.

"Well, certainly we used to get greedy with the old cars," said Ambrose after the accident. "It was very easy to bump draft. You had a good square surface to push from. So I definitely think it's a consequence of the new shape. The new car's very light, and it doesn't take much."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took blame for starting the pileup and agreed with Ambrose the new car will take some getting used to on the super speedways.

"You definitely gotta be more careful pushing people," acknowledged Earnhardt. "The cars are really tail happy and real loose because of the down force they have on the back of the cars. So a little bit more of a handful, especially in the draft toward the back of the draft where the air is real dirty."

Pemberton knows that the teams will figure it out once Speedweek begins in a few weeks, but was satisfied with the results.

"There's more opportunity for downforce to be created in the splitter area with under-body work that is cleaner air," observed Pemberton. "Hopefully that will tend to allow the cars to behave better around other cars."

With Daytona a success, now the attention focuses on the mile and a half test being held in Charlotte. If the results are similar there, this should be a very exciting NASCAR season.

The stick and ball sports have their All-Star games but, it is usually more of a social event instead of a hard fought competition. NASCAR's version places the past season's best teams against each otherMore >>

The stick-and-ball sports have their All-Star games but they are usually more a social event than a hard-fought competition. NASCAR's version places the past season's best teams against each other with the winner leaving with at least a million dollars in their pocket.More >>

Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. are but a few of the sports greats who have gone to victory lane in the Southern 500. Matt Kenseth can now add his name to that historic trophy afterMore >>

Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. are but a few of the sports greats who have gone to victory lane in the Southern 500. Matt Kenseth can now add his name to that historic trophy after a late surge took him to the win Saturday night.More >>

Last week's white knuckle action at Talladega pitted driver against driver. This week it's a battle of another form as they try to defeat a "Track Too Tough to Tame" in Darlington, South Carolina. DarlingtonMore >>

Last week's white-knuckle action at Talladega pitted driver against driver. This week it's a battle of another form as they try to defeat a "Track Too Tough to Tame" in Darlington, SC.More >>

Talladega Speedway has long been known for its exciting racing action. However, the fans at Sunday's Aaron's 499 Cup Series event experienced some additional excitement in another form as a large thunderstormMore >>

Talladega Speedway has long been known for its exciting racing action. However, the fans at Sunday's Aaron's 499 Cup Series event experienced some additional excitement in another form as a large thunderstorm with one-eighth-inch hail that halted the event with 63 laps to go.More >>

The only thing that is predictable about Talladega is that it's unpredictable. You never know what to expect and the final lap is always one of the most exciting laps in all of NASCAR racing. Maybe theMore >>

The only thing that is predictable about Talladega is that it's unpredictable. You never know what to expect, and the final lap is always one of the most exciting laps in all of NASCAR racing.More >>

Richmond International Raceway has always been known as a place for action but Saturday night's Toyota Owner's 400 had many Cup Series drivers shaking their heads. The first portion of the event belongedMore >>

Richmond International Raceway has always been known as a place for action, but Saturday night's Toyota Owner's 400 had many Cup Series drivers shaking their heads.More >>

Growing up, Clint Bowyer cut his teeth driving the short track circuit of the Midwest. Now that he is a big time Sprint Cup driver, he is hoping that his short track experience puts him back in the winner'sMore >>

Growing up, Clint Bowyer cut his teeth driving the short track circuit of the Midwest. Now that he is a big time Sprint Cup driver, he is hoping that his short track experience puts him back in the winner's circle this week in Richmond.More >>

When Matt Kenseth made the unprecedented move from his long time home at Roush/Fenway Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing, many expected him to remain a championship threat; just not this soon. Capturing his secondMore >>

When Matt Kenseth made the unprecedented move from his longtime home at Roush/Fenway Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing, many expected him to remain a championship threat; just not this soon.More >>

Richard Petty once told me that bad luck comes in cycles. He said that you just continue to work hard and one day it will turn back around your way. That seems to be the case for the resurgent Kyle BuschMore >>

Richard Petty once told me that bad luck comes in cycles. He said that you just continue to work hard and one day it will turn back around your way. That seems to be the case for the resurgent Kyle Busch as he heads to Kansas this weekend.More >>

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